How Pac-12 and Big Ten Have Stepped Up to Challenge SEC Long Term

He might be a king of hot college football takes, but ESPN's Paul Finebaum didn't even have the SEC's back—at SEC media days, no less. 

"Overall, I think the SEC may be overrated," Finebaum said on the SEC Network broadcast earlier this month. "Last year we sat here and talked about can the SEC get two [teams] in the College Football Playoff?' I'm not sure they're going to get anyone this year." 

Overrated is a subjective term, and you can draw that conclusion if you wish on your own, but it is interesting to look back at last year's College Football Playoff standings. Just over 50 percent of the time, the SEC had at least two teams ranked among college football's top four. The inaugural standings featured four SEC teams—Mississippi State, Auburn, Ole Miss and Alabama—among the top six teams. 

Yet Auburn would finish 8-5. Ole Miss, suffering the consequences of key injury problems, lost four of its final six games, with the last two losses by a combined score of 72-3. Mississippi State lost three of its last four games and Alabama didn't make it past the Sugar Bowl in the playoff's semifinal round. 

Overrated? Let's just put it this way: For one reason or another, the dominant SEC West didn't exactly finish on the right foot.

However you want to view it, it begs the question: Is the top of the SEC losing ground to conferences like the Big Ten and Pac-12? When you've won seven straight national titles before going through a two-year drought, it's fair to wonder. 

Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Associated Press

Some of it has to do with the rise/resurgance/etc. of other blue-blood programs outside the SEC like Florida State and Ohio State. But what really matters for the Big Ten and Pac-12 in terms of closing the gap are coaching and recruiting. Both conferences have invested heavily in those two areas in the past year or so. 

The Big Ten got a boost perception-wise when Ohio State went on its remarkable run to win the national championship, but that alone doesn't mean the Big Ten is closing fast on its Southeastern counterpart. It means Ohio State is in the middle of a potential dynasty with head coach Urban Meyer.

If anything, Michigan finally pinning down Jim Harbaugh as its head coach does more for the overall strength of the conference. Think about what the Big Ten East Division has in its head coaching arsenal now: Meyer, Harbaugh, Mark Dantonio (Michigan State) and James Franklin (Penn State).

At its four blue-blood programs, the Big Ten has a group of either proven head coaches or up-and-coming stars. In the last three years, three of the aforementioned Big Ten coaches have won a Rose Bowl (Dantonio), national championship (Meyer) and have made a Super Bowl appearance (Harbaugh). Franklin, meanwhile, took Vanderbilt to back-to-back nine-win seasons. 

As for the Pac-12, take a look at the list of coaches around the conference: Rich Rodriguez, Todd Graham, David Shaw, Mike Leach—these are just a handful of names. These are coaches who have done great things at other programs—think Texas Tech (Leach) and West Virginia (Rodriguez)—or have reached great heights with their current program. The Pac-12 is known as an offensive-minded conference, but this is a stellar group of "gurus." Oregon is almost at another level with Mark Helfrich, Chip Kelly and Mike Bellotti. To maintain the level of success the Ducks have had in the face of coaching turnover is remarkable. 

Other than the SEC, you'd be hard-pressed to find a conference with a more impressive group of coaches from top to bottom. 

Not only are these coaches sideline geniuses, but they're crushing it on the recruiting trail, too.

Let's start with the Big Ten. According to 247Sports' composite rankings, all four of those Big Ten programs have 2016 recruiting classes ranked among the top 11 in the nation: Ohio State (No. 1), Penn State (No. 6), Michigan (No. 9) and Michigan State (No. 11). That's as many as the SEC has: LSU (No. 2), Alabama (No. 4), Ole Miss (No. 8) and Georgia (No. 10). 

Rank	School	Commits	5-star prospects	4-star prospects
1.	Ohio State	18	1	14
2.	LSU	17	2	10
3.	Florida State	18	3	9
4.	Alabama	18	0	11
5.	USC	16	1	11
6.	Penn State	18	0	9
7.	Miami (FL)	22	0	10
8.	Ole Miss	18	1	6
9.	Michigan	21	0	9
10.	Georgia	14	2	5
11.	Michigan State	20	0	6
12.	Oregon	14	0	8
13.	Stanford	12	0	7
14.	UCLA	14	0	5
15.	Kentucky	20	0	2

Granted, signing day is a long way off, and quantity doesn't always equal quality this time of year. For example: The top four SEC schools have five verbal commitments from 5-star prospects; the Big Ten has one. Still, the top of the Big Ten is at least on the right track in terms of bringing in blue-chip recruits. 

Speaking of top-end recruiting classes, the other conference with four top-15 classes is the Pac-12. Only ACC programs Florida State and Miami (FL) make up the rest of the top 15 classes for '16. Though it has only one top-10 class, USC, you could argue that no other Power 5 conference is getting more bang for its recruiting buck—so to speak—than the Pac-12. 

Comparing the top four classes for the Pac-12 and SEC, the Pac-12 actually has slightly more blue-chip (4-and-5-star) players verbally committed per class than the SEC. Averaging out the numbers, the top four Pac-12 classes are made up of about 56 percent blue-chip recruits. The SEC's top four classes are made up of about 55 percent. Yes, the difference is almost unnoticeable, but as far as quality goes, the Pac-12 is right up there with the SEC. 

Long term, the Pac-12 and Big Ten have to show that the current '16 standings aren't an anomaly. Other than bell cows Ohio State and Michigan, the Big Ten hasn't littered the recruiting landscape with top-15 classes over the past few years. The Pac-12 has done marginally better, with usual suspects USC along with Stanford, UCLA and Oregon interchangeably making a top-15 appearance since 2012. 

Why does this matter? SB Nation recruiting analyst Bud Elliott explained in 2014:  

"

Every BCS champion since recruiting rankings could be accurately tracked (2005, or four classes after Scout joined Rivals in rating players) has met a benchmark: it's recruited more blue-chips (four-and five-star players) than lesser-rated players over its four previous signing classes.

...

Coaching stability, attrition management, player development, scouting, support and a host of other factors have a lot to do with a team's success. But even doing all of those things well, it is very hard for a program to stay at an elite level if it's not bringing in a lot of top talent.

"

There's so much that goes into fielding a top-end program: recruiting, coaching (and coaching turnover), schedules and, yes, a little bit of luck along the way. It's an inexact science, too. Oregon doesn't pull in top-five recruiting classes, but it has been known to produce genius coaches. Conversely, USC is littered with blue-chip talent but has had a hard time finding the right head coach in the post-Pete Carroll era. 

But a broad-brush look at the Big Ten and Pac-12 shows that, if these conferences want to regularly compete with the SEC, it takes tremendous coaching and recruiting at the top. Based on what's happened in the past year or so in those respective areas, it's easy to see why these two conferences are ready to show they can play with anyone in the country. 

Especially those in the Southeastern part. 

Ben Kercheval is a lead writer for college football. All quotes cited unless obtained firsthand. All recruiting information courtesy of 247Sports.